Provoked: A True Story (2006)

Director:

Jag Mundhra

Writers:

Carl Austin (writer)
Rahila Gupta (writer)

Release Date:

6 April 2007 (UK)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

In prison she found freedom

Plot:

It's the true story of a Punjabi woman named Kiranjit Ahluwalia who leaves India to marry a London-based guy, only to be badly abused. She ends up in prison for murdering her abusive husband.

Plot Keywords:

Prison | Murder | Domestic Violence | Police | Court

Cast

Aishwarya Rai	...	Kiranjit Ahluwalia
Miranda Richardson	...	Veronica Scott
Naveen Andrews	...	Deepak Ahluwalia
Ray Panthaki	...	Ravi
Nandita Das	...	Radha Dalal
Robbie Coltrane	...	Lord Edward Foster
Raji James	...	Solicitor Anil Gupta
Leena Dhingra	...	Sheela Ahluwalia
Claire Louise Amias	...	Young Nurse
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Wendy Albiston	...	Guard Miller
John Alford	...	Chris Jones - Legal Aid Solicitor
Freya Berry	...	Dr. Emma Stillman
Lorraine Bruce	...	Doreen
Ashwani Chopra	...	News Vendor
Karen Shenaz David	...	Asha (as Karen David)
Maxine Finch	...	Lula
Nicholas Irons	...	Police Constable James O'Connell
Judith Jacob	...	Guard Tyler
Shaheen Khan	...	Jamila
Steve McFadden	...	DS Ron Meyers
Deborah Moore	...	Jackie
Harpreet Singh Nandra	...	Sandeep D. Ahluwalia
Rahul Nath	...	Doctor
Raoul Pattra	...	Rajeev D. Ahluwalia
Rebecca Pidgeon	...	Miriam
Naila Raza	...	Kiranjit's sister
Marsha Rice	...	Mrs. Byron
Guy Siner	...	Prosecutor
Christina Thornton	...	Commander Kate Halloran
Julie T. Wallace	...	Gladys

Also Known As:

Provoked (UK) (short title)

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

UK | India

Language:

English | Punjabi

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

UK:15 | Ireland:16 | Malaysia:U | Malaysia:18PL

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Trivia:

In order to appeal to those who don't speak English in India, the film was dubbed in Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil, and Telugu.

Sensibly Conveyed

What I found most compelling about this movie is the way in which the core subject matter of the husband abusing his wife was revealed to the audience. It didn't focus entirely on the actual act of abuse which is something the movie could've easily gone in the direction of. One might argue that showing the actual scenes might've garnered more sympathy for Kiranjit but I beg to differ. I think by showing glimpses of the violence and leaving much to the imagination the director has done well to extract genuine sympathy from his audience. I must also mention that Aishwarya Rai has portrayed this role earnestly and might perhaps be the peacock feather in her acting career. She was apt, didn't over or under act and perfectly exhibited the emotional trauma that Kiranjit might've actually been through. The movie was controlled realism, in it that it portrayed the story realistically but didn't go into the gory details, which I believe isn't necessary at all.